Country star Maren Morris has revealed that she might not attend the CMA Awards this year after she publicly clashed with Brittany and Jason Aldean over transphobic comments they made on Instagram recently.
Morris has been nominated for album of the year but in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, she admitted she may skip the awards ceremony, which could very well be attended by Brittany and Jason Aldean.
"I'm very honored that my record is nominated," she said. "But I don't know if I feel home there right now. So many people I love will be in that room, and maybe I'll make a game-time decision and go. But as of right now, I don't feel comfortable going."
Last month Brittany Aldean sparked outrage after she called out parents of transgender youth on Instagram.
"I'd really like to thank my parents for not changing my gender when I went through my tomboy phase. I love this girly life," she captioned a makeup reveal video.
In the comments, Jason Aldean wrote: "Lmao!! Im glad they didn't too, cause you and I wouldn't have worked out."
Backlash ensued, with many saying the remarks were "transphobic." Jason Aldean was subsequently dropped from his public-relations firm of 17 years and the couple were called out by fans and fellow musicians including Morris, who referred to Brittany Aldean as "Insurrection Barbie" on Twitter, adding, "It's so easy to, like, not be a scumbag human?"
During her interview with the Times, Morris said she did not run her tweet by anyone on her team first.
"I just shot it off," she said. "I hate feeling like I need to be the hall monitor of treating people like human beings in country music. It's exhausting. But there's a very insidious culture of people feeling very comfortable being transphobic and homophobic and racist, and that they can wrap it in a joke and no one will ever call them out for it. It just becomes normal for people to behave like that."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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